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<h1>Report: Pilot cities named for US m-payments project</h1>
<div class="details"><a href="http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/article/report-pilot-cities-named-for-us-m-payments-project">http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/article/report-pilot-cities-named-for-us-m-payments-project</a><br>
Published: Tuesday 10 August 2010</div>
<div class="region">Region: <a href="http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/search/?region=USA%20&%20Canada">USA & Canada</a></div>
<div class="tags">Tags:
<a href="http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/search/?keywords=AT%26T">AT&T</a>
<a href="http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/search/?keywords=Verizon+Wireless"> Verizon Wireless</a>
<a href="http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/search/?keywords=T-Mobile+USA"> T-Mobile USA</a>
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<p>The new US mobile payments initiative being led by AT&T, Verizon
Wireless and T-Mobile is to launch pilot services in major cities in
Texas, Minnesota and Utah next year, according to sources at <em>Bloomberg</em>.
The project – currently codenamed 'Mercury' – will begin pilots in
Austin, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City in the middle of next year.
Atlanta is thought to be the fourth city earmarked for launch. Consumers
participating in the pilots will be able to pay at a merchant with the
contactless wave of a smartphone equipped with a radio microchip that
communicates with a reader at checkout. The move is seen as the US
operator community’s biggest effort to date to kick-start mobile
payments, and a major threat to Visa and MasterCard, the world’s two
largest payment networks.</p>
<p>The Mercury project has yet to be officially confirmed by any of the
parties involved, though AT&T and Verizon Wireless are understood to
be equal partners in the venture, with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA
owning a smaller stake. The three operators are reportedly now searching
for a CEO to lead the initiative. Barclays and US credit card firm
Discover are also thought to be on board to process the payments made
using the scheme. The smartphones used in the pilots are expected to use
embedded NFC technology to facilitate contactless payments, though
there has been no word to date on who will make these devices. Read
today’s blog on the story <a href="http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/article/smart-cards-need-smart-phones" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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